Faith Baptist Church
4258 Botetourt Road
Fincastle, Virginia 24090
(540) 473-2325
The temporal blessings of God come to the spiritually advancing believer in many forms.
Another such temporal blessing is marital intimacy blessing.
Heb.13:4 “Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled, but fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” Prov.5:15-23; Prov.18:22; Ecc.9:9.
From these words of truth and wisdom from God’s word we see that God invented sex for comfort within marriage, and through this God ordained creation a husband and wife relationship bond grows, and during the child bearing years so does one's family potentially grow. There are wonderful blessings possible in that family circle. The man is to find his physical and emotional refreshment from no one other than his own wife. He is not to look at or day dream about any other woman and she the same toward him.
For a husband and wife their personal love life stays strengthened because they do not hold mental attitude sins against one another.
The divine institution of marriage is designed by God to have not only the sustaining foundation of character love and personal love, but also pure eros love, and this begins with a proper thought life. This couples spiritual maturity and walk with the Lord keeps them close. They both submit to God’s designed place in the home; his leadership and her submission to that leadership as seen in the Garden of Eden as well as after the fall, Gen.2:21-24; 3:16; Eph.5:22-24. Following this ordained design a married couple does not compete with one another, they compliment each other. They are not trying to out do the other. If there is a competitive attitude in the marriage it carries itself in every aspect of that marriage. Most pastors will agree that many marriages fall apart because conflict carries itself into the bedroom.
The wise believer never uses intimacy as leverage against the other. This temporal blessing is for married couples only and it does not apply to those having sex outside of marriage. You may not have all the temporal blessings other believers have, but there is no excuse, outside of some medical reason, for not having this blessing as a married couple. All sex outside of marriage is sin. You are to always rejoice with the wife of your youth.
Prov.5:15 read - This is a Hebrew adage and it refers to ones sexual desires being like that of thirst for water, but it is limited to whom? Thine own well, your wife in other words.
v.16 read - This verse refers to marital reproduction inside the bonds of marriage.
v.17 read - Let your offspring be thine own. Do not play the field; be faithful to your own marriage partner.
v.18 read - This relates to the offspring that may occur from your marital intimate love. Your intimacy blessings satisfy your needs, needs I will remind you that God put in you. Thus rejoice always with your wife.
v.19 read - Be at all times satisfied the wife you have chosen, and be intoxicated with her love... If this is too strong for you, then you do not understand that it was God who created sex to start with. To God sex between a husband and his wife is beautiful, and he says so right here in his inspired word. This is free marital counseling which comes straight from the word of God. Many marriages would be saved if believers and even the lost would adhere to God’s design.
Keeping a spiritually healthy attitude toward the Lord is the key to keeping conflict at a minimum in ones marriage.
I could have spent just a few moments on this subject, and I could have gone on to the next temporal blessing, but how disappointing it would be if I did not give attention to such an important biblical topic. We cannot be in such a hurry to hear something new that we bypass God’s instructions. Too often we attempt to build something, including our relationships, and we do so without reading the instructions. Part of the reason is arrogance and the other part is anxiety. We think we can have something wonderful without working at it, and because we want everything immediately our anxiety pushes us to go forward without thinking.
Marriage is the major building block to any successful society and a society that demeans and blasphemes this holy institution is in for sure disaster. To Satan’s cosmic point of view marriage is lame; devotion to one person for life is inadequate for one being happy.
Divorce and the delinquency among our youth are destroying any happiness God intends for us to have as a free nation.
Our financial prosperity, health, and national security are all tied to the institution of marriage. When marriage fails it affects everyone in some way. When the personal thought life of a married couple is centered on the Lord and his word then any problems they have can be resolved and they can go forward with building their lives.
A married couple should be in love with each other all of their lives. What good is everything this world has to offer if you don’t have true love? There are Christian men and women who look everywhere to show God’s love, and yet so many fail to be successful in this endeavor under their own roofs.
If you are married make it a point to show appreciation for the one you married. Keep the romance alive in your marriage. Don’t look at your soul mate as a part of the furniture in your homes, and keep Jesus Christ and his word at the center of your homes.
A prose picture of wedded bliss by Charles Reade’s story, Christie Johnstone -
“He a gentleman; she a wifely wife, a motherly mother, and a lady. This, then, is a happy couple. Their life is full of purpose and industry, yet lightened by gaiety. There the divine institution of marriage takes its natural colours; and it is at once pleasant and good to catch such glimpses of Heaven’s designs, and sad to think how often this great boon accorded by God to man and woman must have been abused ere it could have sunk to be the standing joke of farce writers and the theme of weekly punsters.
In this pair we see the wonders a male and a female can have for each other in the sweet bond of holy wedlock. In that blessed relation alone two interest are really one, and two hearts lie safe at anchor side by side.
They are friends - for they are man and wife,
They are lovers still - for they are man and wife,
They are one forever - for they are man and wife.
“This wife brightens the house from kitchen to garret for her husband; the husband works like a king for his wife’s comfort and his own fame, and that fame is his wife’s glory. When one of them expresses or hints a wish, the other’s first impulse is to find the means, not the objection.
They share all troubles, and by sharing halve them; They share all pleasures, and by sharing double them.
They climb the hill together now; and when, by the inevitable law they begin to descend towards the dark valley, they will still go hand in hand, smiling so tenderly and supporting each other with a care more lovely than when the arm was strong and the foot was firm.”
Please listen, intimacy in marriage is much more than physical love. It is caring; it is listening, it is seeing your mate for who he or she is.